260 



TERMINALIACEAE. 



heads. Calyx- tube flattened, not prolonged beyond the ovary; sepals 5, de- 

 ciduous. Petals none. Stamens mostly 5, with slender elongated filaments 

 and cordate anthers. Style pubescent. Ovules 2. Drupes scale-like, densely 

 aggregated. Seeds flat; cotyledons convolute. [Greek, referring to the cone- 

 like heads of fruit.] A monotypic American genus. 



1. Conocarpus erecta L. Sea Mul- 

 berry. Bark. Buttoxvtood. Button 

 Alder. (Fig. 279.) A glabrate or silky- 

 pubescent shrub or tree, sometimes 30° 

 tall, sometimes less than 3° high, with 

 angled or winged twigs. Leaves l'-2' 

 long, elliptic to oval, acute or acumi- 

 nate at both ends, entire, short-petioled ; 

 racemes l'-2' long, peduncled; heads 2-i"- 

 4" in diameter at flowering time ; calyx- 

 tube funnel-like, greenish, a little over 

 i" long; sepals triangular-ovate, about 

 as long as the limb of the calyx, finely 

 pubescent; stamens and style 5"-7" long; 

 drupes scale-like, 2-winged, '2"-3-J" long. 

 [C. prociimhens of Eeade; Laguncularia 

 racemosa of Lefroy, the error copied by 

 Yerrill; Cephalanthus occidentalis of 

 Jones; Conocarpus racemosus of Jones.] 



Common along the coasts, in sheltered 

 situations erect, where wind-swept prostrate. 

 Native. Florida and the West Indies. 

 Flowers in autumn and winter. Its seeds 

 doubtless reached Bermuda by floating. Its 

 bark was formerly used for tanning. 



Terminalia Catappa L., West Indian or Demarara Almond, a tropical 

 Malayan tree sometimes 50° tall, with widely spreading branches, alternate, 

 oval to obovate, entire short-petioled leaves 6-12' long, slender spikes of small 

 greenish-white flowers without petals, and elliptic 2-edged flattened drupes 

 about 2V long, is occasionally planted for shade and ornament, and might 

 well be more used. 



Terminalia Arjuna Beddome, Arjun, East Indian, a tree reaching 80° in 

 height, with smooth bark, subopposite glabrate short-petioled oblong obtuse 

 leaves 3'-6' long, small flowers in panicled spikes, the obovoid-oblong, 5- 

 winged fruits l'-2' long, was seen at Dunbarton in 1914, as a tree about 40"^ 

 high with a trunk 20' in circumference, raised from seed from Ceylon. 



Quisqualis indica L., Eangoon Creeper, from the Old World tropics, a 

 long woody vine, with opposite short-stalked elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, 

 entire acuminate leaves 3' or 4' long, terminal drooping spikes of elongated 

 flowers, the very slender calyx-tube about 3' long, its short lobes triangular, 

 the 5 red petals oblong-oblanceolate, obtuse, 8" or 9" long, the leathery capsules 

 5-angled, is grown on walls for ornament. 



